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By James Ensor
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Although the young athletes would have been forgiven to think they were in Rio when they were baking in the sun, they were in fact escaping the heat in the Islington Branch library on Thursday, August 18. For an hour on that hot morning, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., the young athletes competed in a series of six events, each hoping to make the parents they represented proud.
The floors were lined with makeshift racetracks, arrows taped in the directions the kids were to run, and a trampoline for the gymnasts in the room. Dedicated readers will recall this is not the first time the Islington Branch of the Westwood Library has transformed itself into an arena for athletics; this paper featured a miniature golf game held there earlier this summer.
“We had 9 families participate in our little Olympics at the Branch,” said Claire Connors, Islington librarian. “The children ran an obstacle course and enjoyed the trampoline, long jump and high jump. Everyone had fun.”
The Rio ’16 Olympics came to a close on August 21, but the library held the event just in time for the kids to be competing in conjunction with the real Olympians, albeit a time zone away. To reward their participation, each young competitor at the library was given a special certificate - and a hearty round of applause.
